Certain industries and fields of endeavor, such as clinical studies of pharmacological products, sometimes require that articles be shipped with special handing. The viability, metabolic state (e.g., active/dormant), life span, or other properties of these articles are dependent on proper handling both during shipment and after reception of the article. For example, vaccines, cell cultures, vials of injectable drugs, drugs including complex molecules in liquid form, and many other materials must typically be kept within a range of temperatures to remain viable and/or active. These materials must therefore be stored, transported, and maintained at controlled temperatures by a temperature-controlled supply chain that provides a strict system of temperature control to assure the potency and safety of the materials.
Because a single broken link in the temperature-controlled supply chain can result in loss of the materials, it may also be necessary to unpack articles requiring special handling within a limited amount of time and under specific environmental conditions to prevent damage to, or contamination of, the articles. Thus, special handling requirements may extend to how the package is treated at the receiving end. Packages may also contain clinical trial samples, in which case it may also be necessary for the recipient to track and distribute the articles in the package in a proscribed manner to preserve the integrity of clinical trial results and the identity of the participant.
Packages requiring special handling may also include a tracking device that collects data on environmental conditions during shipment. For example, a tracking device may be included in the package that monitors the temperature of an article in the package to determine if the article may have been damaged because it was not kept within a required temperature range during shipment. When a tracking device is included in the package, it may also be necessary for the tracking device to be deactivated and its data retrieved as part of the receiving process.
Because packages containing articles requiring special handling typically have specific time sensitive needs with regard to how they are handled at the receiving end, it is important that the recipient know any special processing instructions at the time the article is delivered. However, packages that require special handling at the receiving end may arrive with other packages that do not require special handling. Moreover, because the requirements for handling each package may differ, there is a danger that the receiving party will handle the package improperly, or not realize that the package requires special handling, resulting in damage to or loss of the package contents. This can be especially problematic for pharmaceutical testing facilities, which typically receive multiple shipments from multiple sources per day, with each shipment including packages related to different clinical studies.
Thus, there is a need for improved methods and systems of tracking and receiving packages requiring special handling, of providing handling instructions for these packages, and for reducing the potential for improper handling of the packages.